Research Fellows
Ajit Abraham, PhD Candidate, Interdisciplinary Studies, Graduate Theological Union
Ajit K. Abraham, originally from Bangalore, India, is a Ph.D. candidate at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. After receiving a Masters in Social Work from the Madras School of Social Work, he worked from 1997 - 2001 as a Faculty trainer with community health organizations including the International Services Association, Ford Foundation, Global Health Action in the Indian sub-continent. Ajit's area of focus was in the field of HIV/AIDS, Sex and Sexuality education.Ajit went on to complete an M.A. in Theological Studies from The Lutheran School at Chicago in 2003 . His current primary research interests include globalization, religion, and liberation/ contextual theologies. He has taught courses and assisted in curriculum planning in topics relating to globalization, World/Non-Western Christianities, Theology, Ethics and History at the Pacific School of Religion and Starr King School for the Ministry from 2003 - 2008.
Ali Eshraghi, Visiting Scholar, Institute of International Studies
Since August 2008, Ali Reza Eshraghi has been a visiting scholar from Iran at UC Berkeley’s School of Journalism and then the Department of International and Area Studies. He is a PhD candidate in Political Science and Islamic studies from Tehran. During his 12-year career in journalism, he has worked at some of Tehran's most well-known reformist newspapers, all of which have eventually been banned or shut down by the government. As Deputy editor-in chief of Hayat-e-No, Hamshahri, Shargh, Jahan-e-Sanat and Asia, Eshraghi was able to make these publications some of the most prestigious newspapers in Iran, and has been placed highly on the list of famous Iranian Op-Ed piece writers. He has received the Golden Pen Award at Iran's National Press Festival (2002) and has served as a member of the jury of the Festival for several years.
Lynne Gerber, PhD, Ethics and Social Theory, Graduate Theological Union
Lynne Gerber has a PhD in Ethics and Social Theory from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. She coordinates grants for RPGP. Lynne received a Bachelors degree from Brandeis University and a Masters of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School. Her research interests include contemporary American evangelicalism, sexuality, the sociology of morality, and the cultural politics of body size. Her dissertation, Ruling the Unruly Body: Morality and Bodily Change in American Evangelicalism, is a qualitative, comparative study of a Christian weight loss program and an ex-gay ministry. Her work has been published in Nova Religio, Social Compass, and Fieldwork in Religion. Lynne also works a research consultant, and is currently working on a project investigating Baptists and sexuality.
Kelly Greenhill, RPGP Visiting Fellow; Assistant Professor of Political Science, Tufts UniversityKelly M. Greenhill is Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Tufts University and Research Fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. She holds a Ph.D. and an S.M. from M.I.T., a C.S.S. from Harvard University, and a B.A. from UC Berkeley. Greenhill previously held pre- or post-doctoral fellowships at Harvard University's Olin Institute for Strategic Studies and Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, and at Stanford University's Center for International Affairs and Cooperation.
Her work has appeared in a variety of venues, including the journals International Security, Security Studies, and International Migration as well as in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and in briefs prepared for the U.S. Supreme Court. Greenhill has two books forthcoming with Cornell University Press: the first, Weapons of Mass Migration: Forced Displacement, Coercion and Foreign Policy, focuses on the use of large-scale population movements as instruments of state-level coercion; and the second, Sex, Drugs and Body Counts: The Politics of Numbers in Global Crime and Conflict (co-edited with Peter Andreas), examines the politicization and manipulation of crime and conflict-related statistics. She is currently at work on a new book, a cross-national study that explores why, when, and under what conditions, fiction, so-called “social facts” and other non-factual sources of information—such as rumors, conspiracy theories and propaganda—materially influence the development and conduct of national security policies.
Her work has appeared in a variety of venues, including the journals International Security, Security Studies, and International Migration as well as in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and in briefs prepared for the U.S. Supreme Court. Greenhill has two books forthcoming with Cornell University Press: the first, Weapons of Mass Migration: Forced Displacement, Coercion and Foreign Policy, focuses on the use of large-scale population movements as instruments of state-level coercion; and the second, Sex, Drugs and Body Counts: The Politics of Numbers in Global Crime and Conflict (co-edited with Peter Andreas), examines the politicization and manipulation of crime and conflict-related statistics. She is currently at work on a new book, a cross-national study that explores why, when, and under what conditions, fiction, so-called “social facts” and other non-factual sources of information—such as rumors, conspiracy theories and propaganda—materially influence the development and conduct of national security policies.
Ben Oppenheim, PhD Candidate, Political Science, UC Berkeley
Ben Oppenheim is a doctoral student in the Department of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. He earned his BA from Wesleyan University, followed by a masters in Development Studies from the London School of Economics. His research interests center on international aid and development, and include state failure and reconstruction, the rise of new actors in the provision of public goods, and the development of new technologies with implications for wellbeing in poor countries.
Ben has also served an independent consultant, on topics including conflict, governance, and state fragility, monitoring and evaluation, and the quality of humanitarian assistance.
Ben has also served an independent consultant, on topics including conflict, governance, and state fragility, monitoring and evaluation, and the quality of humanitarian assistance.
email: benoppenheim [at] berkeley [dot] edu
